Electronic Evidence Under the BSA (Section 63): the New 65B Certificate (2026)

Explainer · BSA · Electronic Evidence

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) decides when an electronic record, like a WhatsApp chat, email or CCTV clip, can be read as evidence in court. It replaced Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 from 1 July 2024. It is a rule of evidence, not an offence, so it carries no punishment, but a certificate is still required. Last verified October 2026.

01What Section 63 covers

Section 63 of the BSA is the gateway for electronic evidence in an Indian court. It tells a judge when a printout, a copy, or a file taken from a computer, phone or server can be treated as evidence, even when the original device is not produced.

In plain terms, the section covers any information stored or produced by a computer or communication device. In day to day practice that means:

• WhatsApp chats, SMS and email;
• CCTV footage and mobile phone video;
• call recordings and voice notes;
• bank statements, server logs and other computer output;
• data stored on a phone, laptop, hard disk or cloud account.

The key idea is simple. A copy of an electronic record is admissible as if it were the original, but only when the conditions in the section are met and the required certificate is filed. Without that certificate, the court can refuse to look at the record at all. That is why "bsa section 63" has become one of the most searched provisions of the new evidence law.

02Section 63 and the old Section 65B: the mapping

Section 63 of the BSA replaced Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The old Section 65A, which introduced the special rule for electronic records, is now carried into Section 62 of the BSA. So the pair that lawyers knew as 65A and 65B is now Sections 62 and 63.

If you are searching for "section 65b in bsa", the answer is Section 63. The two provisions do the same job. A litigant still relies on the law the Supreme Court laid down under Section 65B, because the scheme and much of the wording are carried forward.

03The certificate the court needs

The heart of Section 63 is the certificate. A party who wants to use an electronic record must file a certificate that identifies the record, describes how it was produced, and gives the details of the device.

The BSA sets out the form of this certificate in a Schedule to the Act, so there is now a standard format to follow. The certificate is meant to be signed by the person in charge of the device and, where needed, by an expert.

Because the law requires a copy to be backed by a certificate, the real work in an electronic evidence case is often procedural: collecting the record cleanly, proving who held the device, and filing the certificate in the correct form.

04Is there a punishment? Is it cognizable or bailable?

Section 63 does not create an offence, so it has no punishment. The words cognizable, bailable, and triable by do not apply to it. Those labels belong to offence sections, for example in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

What Section 63 decides is a different question: can this electronic record be read as evidence, and on what conditions. The offence being tried, such as cheating or forgery, is charged under its own section, and Section 63 only governs how the digital proof for that charge comes before the court.

05What changed from the old law

Three points are worth noting for anyone moving from the old law.

• Same scheme, new numbers. The certificate based model of Section 65B continues under Section 63. The renumbering is the main change on paper.
• A standard certificate form. The BSA places the certificate format in a Schedule, which removes some of the old uncertainty about what the certificate must say.
• Modern, wider language. Section 63 is written to cover a range of present day storage and devices, which fits phones, servers and cloud accounts.

For the bigger picture, see our overview of the new criminal laws of 2024 and the key changes from the Evidence Act to the BSA. For related topics, see chain of custody for electronic evidence and presumptions about documents.

06Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Electronic evidence questions under Section 63 come up in thousands of live matters, and the way judges apply the section keeps developing. This is where Claw helps. You can search 30 crore+ judgments across the Supreme Court and 25 High Courts to see how courts have read Section 63 and the old Section 65B, and you can track live cases and orders across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, all by section, party or advocate name, with results in under 5 seconds. Claw does not use customer case documents to train AI models.

Create a FREE Claw account to search and track cases under this section by party or advocate name. There is a free plan for individual advocates, with paid plans for teams. To go deeper, see the guide to case search across Indian courts.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (the new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• Supreme Court of India (judgments): sci.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The new criminal laws are still being interpreted by the courts, so check the current text of the BSA and take advice from counsel before you rely on a provision.

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